Rarely does a writer achieve productivity and variety such as Helen Cresswell's--without sacrificing either excellence or distinctiveness in her prose. Not only has Cresswell produced over ninety works since her first book appeared in 1960, but she has excelled in nearly every form of children's fiction: novels for intermediate readers, picture books, easy-to-read stories for reluctant as well as beginning readers, fairy-tale retellings, and television screenplays. Her novels of fantasy and high comedy especially have won favor with readers and earned her four Carnegie Medal nominations. Critics consistently praise her masterful style. Whether it be in timeless tall tales like The Piemakers (1967) and The Signposters (1968), madcap family adventures like the multivolume Bagthorpe Saga (1977-1992), or lyrical mysteries like The Night-Watchmen (1969) and Moondial (1987), her prose runs pure and sparkles with wit.

Cresswell's novels frequently circle to reencounter themes engaged in her earlier work. For example, the occasional exasperations and more-frequent...